The present invention relates to an improved transponder for a proximity identification system. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved transponder for an identification system of the type wherein an interrogator, located for example at a fixed installation, transmits an interrogating signal to activate a portable transponder type device or tag, which would ordinarily be carried by a person, an animal or an object, which is in the vicinity or proximity of the interrogator to cause the transponder to produce and transmit a coded identifying signal to a receiver conventionally located at the same location as the interrogator. The receiver, upon detection of a valid identifying code from the transponder then activates some system function, for example, to provide access to a controlled area or to keep track of the person, animal or object.
In such proximity systems, the interrogating or activating signal is conventionally a continuous signal of a predetermined frequency which is inductively coupled to the transponder by means of an electromagnetic coupling arrangement and which supplies power to the transponder. The transponder, in turn, continuously produces its unique identifying signal for as long as it is activated, and transmits same back to the receiver by modulating a carrier, of a frequency different than the interrogating frequency, with the coded information signal. The output signal of the transponder is in turn inductively coupled to the receiver either by means of a magnetic field, an electrostatic field or simultaneously by both a magnetic and an electrostatic field as disclosed, for example, in copending allowed commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/453,271, filed Dec. 18, 1989(now U.S. Pat No. 5,099,227 issued Mar. 24, 1992), the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference.
As indicated above, upon being activated, the transponder continuously produces and transmits an output signal containing its unique identifying code. Accordingly, in order to be able to detect the code in the receiver, it is likewise necessary for the transponder to produce and include in its output signal a synchronizing signal or pattern. While various types of synchronizing signals or patterns for such transponders are known, the known synchronizing pattern suffer from a number of disadvantages. Such disadvantages include, for example, the need to provide specific additional circuitry for generating the synchronizing signal or pattern, difficulty in detecting the synchronizing pattern, and falsification of the synchronizing pattern by external noise.